Second group of Pennsylvania fire officials headed to Idaho wildfires

A group of 20 more fire officials from all over Pennsylvania will fly out of Harrisburg to help hundreds of their colleagues combating wildfires up and down the west coast.

Just last week, 40 volunteer firefighters and state bureau of forestry fire specialists loaded up a plane at the Harrisburg International Airport and jetted out to join the efforts going on in Idaho alongside similar groups of firefighters from three other east coast states.

Considering the shifting state of fire suppression efforts, it is unknown if this latest group, composed entirely of bureau of forestry officials, will meet up with any personnel in the initial group, but wherever they are assigned they will be put to good use, said Terrence Brady, a spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

A federal agency oversees the efforts and deployment of crews responding to fires from out-of-state, Brady said.

"All I know is they're flying into Boise later on today, from there, I'm not sure where they might end up, they go where they are needed the most," Brady said. "There's a lot of acreage out there [to cover]."

For example, the bulk of the first group of firefighters was supposed to attack an outburst near Challis, Ohio, but they were quickly called away to a new location.

"Now they're camping out at a fire in Beaver Creek," Brady said, having spoken to one of the group coordinators earlier Tuesday. "A lot of their duties consist of mop-up operations, putting out hot-spots and constructing fire breaks."

Each group is on a roughly two-week deployment, with the first firefighters scheduled to head back Aug. 21, the second group departing today should return about a week later.